Scottish Government sets out vision for circular economy transition to 2030

The Scottish Government has published its Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030, setting out 11 priority actions to accelerate the country's transition to a circular economy and implement key measures from the recently passed Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024.

Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin MSP, highlighted the significance of the Route Map's publication: "2024 marks a key point in Scotland's circular economy journey. In June the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament and is now the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024. This landmark Act underlines Scotland's commitment to a circular economy based on sustainable consumption, production, and resource management."

The plan announced, developed through two public consultations in 2022 and early 2024, outlines measures grouped under four strategic aims: reduce and reuse, modernise recycling, decarbonise disposal, and strengthen the circular economy. Analysis of the most recent consultation showed high levels of support for the actions, with approval levels ranging from 71 per cent to 81 per cent across the strategic aims.

The Route Map comes as Zero Waste Scotland, the government's key delivery partner for circular economy policy, published its own Corporate Plan for 2024-2030, which highlighted that the Country's material consumption has reached 22 tonnes per person and set out a course to help reduce extraction of raw materials by one-third by 2030, directly supporting the Route Map's objectives around responsible consumption and production.

Priority actions and implementation timeline

The document identifies 11 priority actions to be delivered within current fiscal constraints, with clear implementation timescales developed through stakeholder engagement to ensure affordability and deliverability.

The Product Stewardship Plan, to be published by 2025/26, will provide a framework to prioritise products based on their environmental and economic impact. The government will identify at least three priority products for action over the next five years, with textiles and mattresses under consideration as initial priorities. This focus on textiles is particularly significant as they currently make up four per cent of household waste by weight but account for nearly a third (32 per cent) of the carbon impact of Scotland's household waste.

The intervention plan for household food waste reduction, due by 2026/27, will tackle one of Scotland's most pressing waste challenges. Households are responsible for approximately 60% of Scotland's food waste, with the average person discarding 111kg of food annually. This waste contributes the equivalent of 2.3 million tonnes of CO2eq to Scotland's carbon footprint. The Scottish Government will develop the plan in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, working alongside WRAP UK, Food Standards Scotland, Public Health Scotland and Local Authorities to identify and test effective interventions for reducing household food waste.

The household food waste reduction intervention plan, to be delivered by 2026/27, will focus on reducing waste from households, which accounts for 60 per cent of Scotland's food waste. Current data shows households dispose of 111kg of food per person annually, generating the equivalent of 2.3 million tonnes of CO2e. To tackle this the Government will develop the plan with Zero Waste Scotland, WRAP UK, Food Standards Scotland, Public Health Scotland and Local Authorities to identify effective waste reduction measures.

New measures include developing mandatory public reporting for food waste and surplus by businesses from 2025/26, and creating an intervention plan to guide long-term work on household food waste reduction behavior change by 2026/27.

Current performance against Scotland's 2025 targets has prompted a shift in approach. The Route Map moves away from overall waste tonnage targets, which don't account for the varying environmental impacts of different materials. Instead, new material-specific targets will be set by 2027, following recommendations from the Climate Change Committee to focus on separate waste streams and their carbon impacts. This change reflects evidence that around four-fifths of Scotland's carbon footprint comes from the products and services manufactured, used and disposed of.

Martin emphasized that the Route Map directly supports the Scottish Government's priorities: "As well as being an important contributor to tackling the climate emergency and improving our environment, it can help grow the economy, by opening up new market opportunities, improving productivity and saving money."

Modernising recycling services

A significant focus of the Route Map is the modernisation of recycling services, with plans to co-design high-quality, high-performing household recycling and reuse services between 2024 and 2026. This process will inform a new statutory Code of Practice for household waste services, moving away from the current voluntary approach.

Zero Waste Scotland will play a crucial role in delivering these modernised services, with its Corporate Plan committing to expanding research capabilities through new partnerships and developing enhanced measures of the social and economic value of circular strategies. The organisation will particularly focus on transforming business support through refined strategies targeting high-impact sectors.

The co-design will consider various factors including research on high-performing services, existing service structures, and upcoming demands and material flow changes. It will also account for the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and the Deposit Return Scheme.

For commercial recycling, the Route Map outlines plans to review compliance with existing requirements by 2026 and co-design measures to improve service provision by 2030, supported by a national compositional study of commercial premises waste.

Decarbonising disposal

The Scottish Government has outlined detailed plans for managing residual waste through two strategies set for publication in 2027. The first is a comprehensive Residual Waste Plan, which will shape waste management policy through to 2045. Work on this plan begins in 2025, with an interim report due in 2025/26. The plan will examine Scotland's infrastructure needs, map current and future waste streams, and establish an indicative cap on Energy from Waste capacity to guide planning decisions. It will also explore emerging technologies for waste treatment and set out approaches for managing legacy infrastructure.

Running parallel to this, a Sector-Led Plan will specifically address the decarbonisation of Energy from Waste facilities. Following research and engagement in 2025/26, this plan will tackle key challenges including the elimination of unnecessary plastic incineration. It will identify practical barriers to reducing plastic waste in energy recovery and propose solutions. The plan will also examine the potential for carbon capture technology and highlight areas requiring further research to achieve decarbonisation goals.

Both plans will be supported by the UK-wide move to include Energy from Waste in the Emissions Trading Scheme, which begins with a transitional period in 2026, when facilities will start to monitor and verify emissions without incurring trading scheme costs. Alongside this, the Scottish Government will work with community groups, local authorities and waste operators to develop new guidance for community engagement around residual waste facilities.

Construction sector reuse

Construction and demolition generates nearly half of Scotland's waste, producing 4.6 million tonnes in 2022, down from 5.8 million tonnes in 2018. To address this, the Route Map sets out plans to create regional hubs and networks for construction materials reuse, with initial scoping research commissioned in 2023 and a place-based feasibility study for a materials reuse hub in Glasgow undertaken in 2024/25.

Zero Waste Scotland is conducting further feasibility studies across Scotland to examine barriers to reuse, regional variations, and implementation challenges. Early estimates suggest only 5-10 per cent of construction materials are currently being reused. The hubs aim to provide coordinated platforms to store, stock and source used construction materials, while promoting tools like Building Information Modelling and materials passports to support whole-life digital approaches to material management.

The Route Map also outlines wider measures for the construction sector, including examining how local planning principles can support building refurbishment over new construction, investigating ways to reduce soil disturbance and movement, and reviewing opportunities to use sustainable procurement practices to improve material efficiency. The public sector, responsible for over half of all construction expenditure in Scotland, will be key to implementing these changes.

Implementation and monitoring

The Route Map requires development of a new circular economy strategy every five years, with the first to be published in 2026. This statutory requirement under the Circular Economy Act will set out objectives, priority sectors and systems, alongside plans for monitoring progress. A new monitoring framework will be developed alongside the strategy, moving beyond traditional tonnage-based metrics to track Scotland's progress towards circularity.

By 2027, the government will set new statutory circular economy targets. These will be developed following publication of the monitoring framework to ensure consistent data measurement that aligns with the strategy's vision. The targets may include material-specific measures rather than overall waste figures, following Climate Change Committee recommendations.

The plan highlights the significant employment opportunities, with circular economy activities currently accounting for one in 10 Scottish jobs. Data shows that managing 10,000 tonnes of waste creates up to 296 jobs in repair and reuse, compared to 36 in recycling or single digits in disposal routes. To reflect this, the Scottish Government proposes it will work with education providers and skills bodies to embed circular economy principles across training programmes.

Supporting measures also include refreshing Scotland's Waste Data Strategy to improve understanding of material flows, and developing new procurement requirements for public bodies to reduce the environmental impact of public spending, which will be scoped under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.